Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

There are some housekeeping matters to be dealt with before I proceed and what I say will answer a question raised by Senator Browne. Yesterday, it was said in the House that a Seanad scheduling conflict did not allow the Tánaiste to attend. There was no Seanad scheduling conflict. In fact, the arrangement was made with the Tánaiste's office three or four weeks ago and then her office changed it. We did not know whether she was coming here but obviously she could not as she is in the United States. However, there was no conflict between my office and hers about scheduling. Sometimes a Minister's office will inform us that the Minister will come to the House to make an opening statement while another Minister will attend the full debate but in this case we were not told who would attend the debate. Given that she was in Pennsylvania, she could not be in the Seanad. There was no Seanad scheduling conflict. My office does not engage in conflicts, except political ones, of course.

Spring has sprung. Three Senators are in white jackets, although I do not know what that means.